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620 jobs to go at Tesco distribution in Middleton

Date published: 16 February 2010

Tesco has announced it is to close its Middleton distribution centre with the loss of 620 jobs. Tesco has said all the existing 620 staff at Middleton will be offered the opportunity to work at their new facility, however, the new distribution centre is in Widnes, Cheshire.

Tesco says the site at Middleton is 20 years old and provides no room for expansion. However, the number of stores the site services has grown considerably in this time and it can no longer meet current or future demands.

Reacting to the shocking news, Chairman of Middleton Township Councillor Peter Williams said: "It is of the greatest concern that jobs on this scale should be lost to the area. Middleton Councillors and local politicians are dismayed at the decision to close the Wincanton/Tesco depot at Stakehill with so little notice.

"The only crumb of comfort seems to be the offer of transfer of jobs to another North West location. Doubtless the practicalities of this will be weighing heavily on the minds of workers and their families, but perhaps not so much on the directors who have made their decision.

"Middleton Councillors will be lobbying as far as they can against this move to close. Secondly they will be seeking to ensure if minds cannot be changed that workers get all practical assistance from the company by way of relocation/travel packages from the company, and assistance from Council resources, where necessary, to support employees where retraining and re-employment are the only alternatives.

"Frankly, I am surprised not so much that the operation has outgrown Stakehill but that use of the Rochdale Kingsway Business Park, strategically straddling the M62, has not been considered or taken up."

In a public relations faux pas Juliette Bishop, Tesco Corporate Affairs Manager comments on the new site but makes no mention of the serious adverse affect on Middleton and staff who face losing their jobs, unless they travel to Widnes.

Ms Bishop said: “This new modern facility will allow us to greatly enhance the service to our stores and customers across the North West of England.”

“This site also offers access to alternative transport infrastructure; including port and rail which will allow us to explore future opportunities to help us further reduce freight travelling by road.”

The operation in Middleton will continue as normal until the new site is opened in July.

Comments

This is so frustrating. Tesco has grown massively across the North West over the past 20 years. It was always going to need bigger premises and it has done this at other depots in the South. Wasn't somebody from the Council talking to Tesco to help it look at options long before it decided it needed to move? Kingsway would have been a great choice and I am sure grants would be available. Yet again we are on the backfoot and people lose their jobs.

Bit of a blow for Jim Dobbin and his left wing friends.

620 jobs is a blow to everyone not just our MPs.
If Tesco really wanted more room or larger premises I feel sure if our MPs, Jim Dobbin and Paul Rowen, had known about this they would have forgotten politics and party differences and called for a meeting with Tesco and the Council.
P.S. All the left wing in Rochdale have been kick out of the Labour Party.

With the aid of self interested parties WITHIN the workforce, Tesco have been engaged in a conspiracy with Wincanton PLC to rid themselves of a workforce with (in their opinion) overgenerous contracts of employment. Unite, the union, were sidetracked into relatively unimportant issues, like warm clothing for casual staff, when all the time Tesco were rewarding Wincanton PLC for their silence. Warnings were given to high level union officials but they were disregarded.